


Little One

by Challenger



Series: Little One [1]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Friendship, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Sparklings, Younglings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-29
Updated: 2012-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-31 22:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/348995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Challenger/pseuds/Challenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Optimus wanted was to protect Bumblebee from the war. After the attack on the Youth Sectors, he will make sure that nothing harms his son again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As the smoke cleared from the air and the sounds of gunfire faded off into the distance, the destruction from the Decepticons' latest attack let itself be known. Debris, from what had once been buildings, was littered across the ground of what had formally been the Youth Sectors. The Youth Sectors had been home to practically all of Cybertron's sparklings and younglings and it had been thought that this would be the one place where they would be safe from the war that had been ravaging their home planet for a long time now. None had thought that the Decepticons would ever attack here, but they were wrong.

Upon seeing the ruins the Autobots quickly spread out – every single one of them hoping to find survivors. The Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, was currently looking for one sparkling in particular. Seeing all of the destruction around him, Optimus was regretting ever sending the sparkling here. All he and Elita had wanted was to keep their son safe and now this had happened. At the moment he could sense that his little sparkling was still alive and it did not take him long to finally reach his destination. There a small yellow sparkling was lying on the ground, his face scrunched up in pain from the large piece of debris that was crushing one of his legs. Optimus bent down and lifted the debris off before carefully picking him up. Energon was slowly leaking from the sparkling's damaged leg and while it wasn't exactly life threatening right now, it was no doubt causing him pain and would need to be repaired sometime soon.

"Bumblebee?" Optimus softly asked, trying to see if he could get a response from his son.

All he received was a small whimper as he headed towards the Autobots' rendezvous point.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't too long after that, that all of the search parties returned and the Autobots went back to their base. In total only five survivors had been found. Four younglings and only one sparkling. Right now all five were receiving medical attention from Ratchet and the other medics while the rest of the Autobots tried to locate the younglings' creators.

"How is he Ratchet?" Optimus asked.

"He's fine Optimus. A little tired and sore, but fine," Ratchet reassured his friend and commander as he handed him a recharging Bumblebee.

"And the other younglings?"

"They should be fine as well. Has there been any luck in finding their creators?"

"Yes, for two of them. We are still searching for the other two's. I've already contacted Elita and informed her that Bumblebee is safe; she's going to ask around about the two younglings. Until their creators are found, they will stay here at the base."

"Hopefully they'll be found soon. I have a feeling that those two will be troublemakers," Ratchet commented.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Less than a joor later Bumblebee woke up from his nap. He could tell right away that someone was carrying him somewhere, which wasn't much of a surprise considering the fact that he couldn't quite walk on his own yet.

"Op!" Bumblebee happily chirped upon realizing who was holding him. He raised his arms up to try to hug Optimus' neck. "Missed!"

"I missed you too little one," Optimus chuckled, lifting his sparkling up a little higher so Bumblebee's little arms could wrap around his neck.

Bumblebee twittered excitedly – pleased to be reunited with his father. He didn't quite understand why his creators had left him, but right now that didn't matter. He had missed them both a lot and he was glad to be with at least one of them again. He didn't know where his mother was at, but he was sure that he would see her again sometime soon as well. That was unless he had to go away again. He didn't want to go back to the place where the bad 'bots had come to though! He remembered that they were mean and scary looking and it was because of them that his leg had been hurt. Surely his father wouldn't make him go there again, but he had to make sure.

"Bee stay?" he timidly asked. "Bee no leave Op?"

Optimus looked down at Bumblebee and saw fear in his baby blue optics at the prospect of having to leave him.

"You are not leaving Bumblebee. You are going to stay with me," Optimus reassured his son.

That answer satisfied Bumblebee. He snuggled against Optimus and fell back into recharge – still tired from the earlier events. As he drifted off into slumber, memories from earlier that orn resurfaced in his mind.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_It had started out as an ordinary orn for Bumblebee. One of his caretakers had woke him up and fed him some energon before taking him to play with some of the other sparklings and younger younglings. They had only been playing for a little while when the alarms sounded mere moments before the sounds of explosions came from outside._

_"Get them out of here!" someone had shouted._

_Bumblebee felt someone pick him up and they started to run, but something made whoever was holding him drop him. He let out a startled cry before he looked around confused and scared as to what was going on. Who were these other scary looking 'bots, the ones with the red optics? Why were they here? Suddenly one of them saw him and started to move towards him. Before the 'bot could reach him however one of the caretakers attacked. A stray shot from the fight between the scary 'bot and the caretaker hit the building near Bumblebee, causing a piece of it to fall off. Bumblebee cried out in pain when it landed on his leg pinning him to that spot. He continued to cry from the pain, hoping that someone would help him. He stopped crying a few breems later when he realized that no one was coming and he was starting to get tired. He started to wonder if anyone would ever find him. What if the bad, scary 'bots came back? Would they hurt him more? Those thoughts made him whimper in fear._

_"Bumblebee."_

_"Bumblebee, wake up."_

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Optimus had heard Bumblebee whimpering in his recharge and knew that it would be best to wake the sparkling up.

"Bumblebee. Bumblebee, wake up," Optimus said.

Bumblebee opened his optics and fearfully looked around – not realizing where he was at. Once he noticed that Optimus was there he relaxed a little, but small whimpers still emitted from his vocal processor.

"Shh, it's ok," Optimus said. "You're safe Bumblebee. I won't let anything hurt you, little one."


	2. Chapter 2

"Op play?"

Bumblebee was sitting on the floor of Optimus' office playing with a few toys that had been found for him and the other two younglings, who happened to be twins and whose names they had learnt were Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

"I'm sorry Bumblebee, but I can't right now. How about I take you to play with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe for a little while?"

"But Bee want Op to play," Bumblebee protested.

Optimus sighed, trying to think of a way to appease the sparkling. He needed to finish going over some reports from some of the recent battles and he really didn't have time to play with Bumblebee at the moment. Plus Optimus thought that it would be good for Bumblebee to play with 'bots closer to his age some too. Ever since Optimus had brought him to the base, Bumblebee had hated to go anywhere without him. Not that Optimus was complaining. He loved to spend time with his son and he liked knowing that he was safe.

"How about you go play with the twins while I finish my work and then I promise that I will play with you," Optimus said.

"Op play with Bee later?"

"Yes Bumblebee, I will play with you later," Optimus answered while walking over and picking up the tiny 'bot. "Not let's go take you to play with the twins."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sideswipe put that down!"

Ironhide glared at the gold and silver younglings that were running around the room, messing with things they weren't supposed to be messing with. How he got stuck with the job of watching the twins for the orn, he had no idea. There had to be others that would be better at watching the younglings than he was.

"You look busy old friend."

Ironhide turned around to see Optimus enter the room with Bumblebee.

"Hi Hide!" the sparkling chirped. "Bee come play with Sunny and Sides!"

Ironhide warily glanced at the sparkling at that statement.

"Would you mind watching Bumblebee for a little while Ironhide?" Optimus asked.

Ironhide did mind actually. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were already hard to look after and he dreaded to think about how much harder his job for the orn would be if a sparkling was added to the mix. But his respect for his friend caused him to take the sparkling from Optimus' arms.

"Nah, I don't mind. How bad could it be?"

After Optimus left, Ironhide set Bumblebee down and let him crawl over to the two younglings.

"Hi Sunny! Hi Sides!"

"Hey 'Bee, we haven't seen you in a while," Sunstreaker said.

"What have you been up to?" Sideswipe asked.

"Bee with Op," Bumblebee answered with his limited vocabulary, before looking curiously at the two. "What play?"

"Oh we were playing 'Don't Listen to Ironhide', but Sunny's tired of playing that now. How about we play 'Hide-and-Seek'?"

"Uh Sides it'll be too easy to find each other, so that game would be boring," Sunstreaker pointed out.

"Not if someone else is doing the seeking," Sideswipe said, mischievously looking towards Ironhide.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Younglings just had to make this hard," Ironhide grumbled as he searched for Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Bumblebee.

He couldn't believe that he had allowed himself to be talked into playing this game with them. Of course it had seemed like a good idea at the time. After all it would keep the twins from running around making a mess. He also hadn't expected that it would be hard to find two younglings and a sparkling. None of the three were known for being quiet very long and the twins especially seemed to have a problem with staying in one place. But the trio had surprised him and now he was stuck wandering around the halls of the base trying to find them. Then again he could wait a little bit. One of the three was bound to get bored eventually and come out of hiding and then it wouldn't be much trouble finding the other two. He was about to do just that when the alarm sounded.

"Slag!" he cursed.

Now the base was under attack and he didn't know where the younglings and sparkling were at. He wasted no time in contacting Optimus to let him know of the situation. The more Autobots looking for them the better the chances that they would find them before the intruders could.

: Optimus we have a problem. :

: What is it Ironhide? :

: The twins and Bumblebee were playing 'Hide-and-Seek' and I can't find them. :

Optimus was silent for a moment before responding.

: Keep searching. I will tell the others to keep a look out for them as well. It is important that we are the ones that find them and not the Decepticons. :

: I'm on it. : Ironhide responded.

Ok now where are you three at?

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The younglings and sparkling had been hiding in a storage closet when the alarm went off. All three were instantly reminded of the events at the Youth Sectors ten orns ago. Bumblebee had started whimpering immediately.

"Want Op!" he cried.

Unlike Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were old enough to know what was going on and they knew that the best thing for them to do was to stay where they were and to be quiet.

"Shh 'Bee you got to be quiet," Sideswipe said.

"Want Op!" Bumblebee repeated.

"He'll come find us. But until then you have to be quiet! If you don't the 'Cons will find us instead and they're not nice to younglings and sparklings like us," Sunstreaker commented.

Bumblebee's optics widened and he started to tremble when he heard that.

"Great Sunny now you've scared him."

"Well at least he'll be quiet now Sides."

"Yeah but he's terrified."

"Well it's not like I told him that the 'Cons would probably… well you know, if they know who he's related to!"

"Sunny!"

The sound of someone approaching finally made the bickering brothers be quiet. The two exchanged a quick glance before they both grabbed a hold of Bumblebee's trembling form and pulled him a little further back into the closet with them. Silence and tension hung in the air as they waited to see what would happen. Sure enough it wasn't long before the door was yanked open and a Decepticon stood in the doorway. The Decepticon just stood there for a moment, staring at the three in surprise. Then he walked inside.

"Well what do we have here?" he menacingly asked. "I thought we got rid of all the younglings. Guess I'm gonna have to fix that."

The Decepticon took another step closer to them.

"Bye –bye younglings."

The Decepticon raised his weapon and aimed at the three. But right as he was about to fire at them another shot rang out in the air and something hit him in the back, causing him to fall to the ground. Standing behind him was none other than the Autobots' weapons specialist.

"'Hide!" Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Bumblebee cried, rushing over to him.

"You three ok?" Ironhide asked. All of them nodded their heads. "Good. Now stay behind me."

The Decepticon was getting back up now and was trying to aim his weapon at Ironhide and Ironhide was already charging up his cannons.

"You made a mistake threatening them Decepticon and I'm going to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

With that Ironhide fired his cannons at the 'Con, effectively making him go offline. He then bent down to get a good look at the younglings and sparkling. All three appeared to be shaken up, Bumblebee more so than the twins, but besides that they looked perfectly fine. Not too long after that, Optimus entered the room. Ironhide immediately handed Bumblebee to Optimus and the sparkling buried his head in Optimus' neck.

"One of the 'Cons saw them, but I stopped him before he could do anything. We won't have to worry about him anymore," Ironhide explained. "Any idea what the 'Cons were after?"

"Most likely intel on battle plans. But it doesn't appear that they got any," Optimus answered.

Little did they know that they were being watched at that very moment.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bumblebee was starting to get drowsy as Optimus brought him back to their room.

"Come on little one, I think it's time for you to recharge."

"Not tired," Bumblebee argued. "Op s'posed play with Bee."

Optimus remembered that he had promised that he would play with Bumblebee earlier and he didn't want to break his promise to him, especially after the orn he had just had.

"Alright then Bumblebee, we'll play for a little while and then you need to recharge."

Bumblebee reached for his favorite toy, a spaceship, and handed it to Optimus. After only a few breems of playing, Bumblebee had dozed off. Optimus smiled at the sparkling, wondering what he would do without him.


	3. Chapter 3

The Deception base in Kaon was perhaps one of the worst places on Cybertron. It was the kind of place that anyone who wasn't a Decepticon would never want to go to. It was old and dark and parts of it were crumbling to pieces despite frequent attempts at repairs. For the Decepticons though it was their center of operations and it served its purposes for now. It was large enough for the majority of the Decepticons to convene and go over battle plans and there was enough room for a brig of sorts to hold captured Autobots or troublesome soldiers. It was here that the Decepticon leader, Megatron, was currently listening to his second-in-command give the report of the assault on the Autobot base in Iacon that had taken place only a few joors earlier. From the sounds of things the assault had been a complete waste of time. While they had not suffered any major losses, it seemed that nothing useful had come from it either. Megatron rose from where he was sitting and looked down at Starscream before backhanding him.

"You disappoint me yet again Starscream, was no useful information of the Autobots plans or weaknesses found during the assault!" he demanded.

"Well… not exactly," Starscream said.

"Explain Starscream," Megatron growled, threateningly stepping towards the Seeker.

"Laserbeak may have mentioned something about spotting survivors from the Youth Sectors in the base," Starscream answered backing away.

"Is that so? Is that all Laserbeak mentioned Starscream? I will find out if you withhold information from me and believe me when I say that the consequences of your actions will not be pleasant."

"Of course I would never purposely withhold information from you Lord Megatron. He said that there were two younglings and a sparkling there. Apparently the sparkling seemed to be fond of Prime."

"Intriguing," Megatron mused.

"Lord Megatron?"

Megatron ignored his second-in-command and resumed his pondering. His brother had always been a compassionate fool and in his mind this made Optimus weak. Finding a way to exploit this weakness had proven to be a bit of a challenge however, but perhaps this was the opportunity he had been looking for. If this sparkling truly was fond of Optimus like Starscream had said, then there was a great chance that Optimus in turn was also fond of the sparkling. Of course if he was correct about all this, Optimus was simply making this all too easy for him now. Why get close to something that was such an easy target? Unless… unless this sparkling was more than just any sparkling to Optimus. The prospect of his brother possibly having or adopting a sparkling of his own had never really crossed his mind before. Perhaps it should have. Or maybe he was wrong; he was going to have to find out more about this sparkling before he could plan anything. He was also going to have to make sure that Starscream wasn't lying to him about this information as well. He contacted Soundwave on his com-link and told him to come to the command center with Laserbeak at once.

"You are dismissed Starscream."

The Seeker grumbled something as he walked away, but Megatron paid him no mind. He had more important matters to deal with right then. Moments after Starscream left, Soundwave and Laserbeak entered the room.

"Soundwave reporting Lord Megatron," Soundwave greeted.

Megatron nodded in acknowledgment before speaking.

"Starscream tells me that Laserbeak said that he spotted some younglings and a sparkling in the Autobot base, is that information correct?" he questioned.

"Yes, the Autobots have two younglings and a sparkling. The sparkling seems close to Prime," Laserbeak replied.

"Soundwave continue espionage on the Autobot base," Megatron ordered. "I want to know just how close Prime and this sparkling are."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Optimus gently rubbed Bumblebee's back with his digit while he watched his sparkling slumber. Bumblebee was such a sweet, innocent sparkling and he hated the fact that he had to grow up during a war. It was too dangerous of a place to live in. That was one of the main reasons he had sent him to the Youth Sectors in the first place, so he could be away from the war. The other reason was to prevent the Decepticons from finding out just who Bumblebee was related to. If the Decepticons ever found out that Bumblebee was his son, Optimus feared that would practically be a death sentence for him. The Decepticons had already shown that they were willing to kill younglings and sparklings; he doubted that they would even hesitate if they knew the sparkling was his. They didn't even know now and they had almost killed him twice already.

He let out a sigh, trying to figure out what he should do. For a brief moment he thought of trying to distance himself from Bumblebee to protect him, but he quickly discarded that thought. It was much too late to do that and it wouldn't be fair to Bumblebee if he did. He wanted Bumblebee to have some sense of normalcy in his life during the war if possible and distancing himself from him would not give him that. All that would really do was confuse and distress Bumblebee, and Optimus did not want to do that to him.

: Optimus we found something you might want to see from the security cameras. :

: I'm on my way. :

Optimus stood up looking back down at Bumblebee. He didn't want to and he couldn't leave him here all by himself. Even though he was recharging right now, there was a chance that he could wake up if Optimus left and Bumblebee had proven to be a rather curious sparkling at times, which made leaving him alone a bad idea. Careful not to wake him, Optimus picked Bumblebee up and left the room. Within a few moments Optimus was standing in front of the security monitors.

"What is it that you thought I should see?" Optimus asked.

"Take a look," Jazz replied. "I was looking through the footage to see where the 'Cons got in at and found this. This is a few breems before we lost feedback from the cameras. There's the closet that 'Bee, Sides, and Sunny were hidin' in and look who shows up."

Optimus watched as Laserbeak appeared on the monitor and subconsciously he tightened his hold on Bumblebee.

"This was after they were already hiding in the closet?" Optimus questioned.

"Yes," Jazz answered.

"But we lose feedback before Laserbeak leaves the vicinity, so we have no way of knowing just when he did leave," Ratchet added.

"Then there is a chance that he saw them," Optimus said.

"And if he saw them then the rest of the 'Cons probably know that they're here as well," Ironhide concluded.

"Where did the Decepticons enter the base at?" Optimus asked.

"Looks like the southeast entrance," Jazz said. "Not as much security down there since it's harder to get to that entrance. What do you want us to do Optimus?"

"Increase security at all of the entrances for now. We do not know for sure if the Decepticons know anything, but it is better to be prepared in case they do and plan another attack."

"Next time we'll be ready for them," Ironhide stated.


	4. Chapter 4

When Bumblebee awoke from recharge he found himself lying on Optimus' chest, with his father's servo protectively covering him like a blanket. The sparkling looked up with sleepy optics to see that Optimus was still in recharge. Bumblebee made a few soft noises to try to get Optimus to wake up. When that didn't work, he curiously looked around the room. Bumblebee decided that he would let Optimus recharge longer and started to try to wriggle out from underneath Optimus' servo. Trying to get out from underneath his servo however only succeeded in waking Optimus up. Optimus smiled at his son's antics and lifted his servo off of him. Bumblebee let out a happy chirp and started to crawl away before Optimus picked him back up. It was hard for Optimus to imagine life without his son. He and Elita had originally decided that they would wait until the war was over before they had a sparkling. They knew how dangerous it would be for their sparkling if they had one and at the time they hadn't thought the war would last very long. But it had lasted for a long time, one thing lead to another, and before they knew it they had Bumblebee. They had been correct on it being dangerous for Bumblebee however. He wasn't even a vorn old yet and already he had been in two dangerous situations.

"Where are you going little one?" Optimus asked.

"Go play," Bumblebee answered, trying to escape again.

"I believe that you should have some energon first," Optimus said getting up.

Bumblebee seemed to consider that for a moment and ceased his attempts at escaping.

"Ok," he replied as Optimus picked him back up and carried him to the rec room.

When they arrived at the rec room they found Ratchet in there with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The twins were finishing their energon while Ratchet was looking annoyed at them. Optimus had an idea about why Ratchet was annoyed. His friend had proven to be correct in his assumption that the two were going to be troublemakers and they constantly tried to play pranks on Ratchet. Bumblebee noticed the three then too and tried to get their attention.

"Hi Ratchet! Hi Sides! Hi Sunny!" the sparkling called.

The two younglings looked up and waved at Bumblebee and Optimus while Ratchet turned to face them.

"Another prank?" Optimus asked as he and Bumblebee approached them.

"Yes," Ratchet replied.

"He's making us stay in the med-bay with him for the entire orn," Sideswipe complained. "It's boring in there."

"Then maybe you'll remember that next time before you decide to switch all of my medical tools," Ratchet said.

"It's not our fault that we didn't know what they did," Sunstreaker grumbled.

"Which is exactly why I told you not to mess with them!" Ratchet snapped.

Bumblebee had already lost interest in the conversation and was starting to get bored. He squirmed in Optimus' arms, wanting to be put down so he could go play. Optimus noticed that he was starting to get impatient and went over to get some energon to feed him. Bumblebee instantly settled down once he started drinking the blue liquid. Once he finished Optimus sat him down on the ground and let him crawl around while making sure he stayed within his sight. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker exchanged a glance and jumped up to join Bumblebee before Ratchet could stop them. Optimus chuckled as he watched the three of them play.

"I'm assuming that you've decided to take on the role of guardian for the twins," Optimus said to Ratchet.

"Yes, I don't suppose I really have much of a choice," Ratchet sighed. "They're really not that bad. I don't suppose Elita had any luck either on finding any relatives of theirs?"

"Not since I last heard from her. I am planning on contacting her again later so she can speak with Bumblebee. I know she's missed him and I will ask her if she's found out anything then."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Optimus sat in front of the communication console with Bumblebee sitting in his lap. The top of the sparkling's head wasn't even visible over the monitor to the console and Optimus knew that once the conversation with Elita started he would have to lift Bumblebee up some so he would be able to see her and so she would be able to see him. Optimus looked down at the sparkling to see him looking at the console with slight fascination.

"Op what that?" he asked pointing at the console.

"This is a communication console Bumblebee. I'm using it so we can talk to Elita," Optimus answered.

"Bee talk to Lita?"

"Yes Bumblebee."

Optimus pressed a few buttons on the console and before long a purple femme appeared on the screen.

"Hello Elita," Optimus greeted.

"Optimus," she smiled.

"Can't see Op," Bumblebee quietly said.

"There is someone who wishes to speak with you Elita," Optimus said lifting Bumblebee up so he could see Elita.

"Hi Lita!"

"Hello Bumblebee. I've missed you! How are you?" she asked her sparkling.

"Fine," Bumblebee said before quietly adding, "Bad bot try to hurt Bee, Sides, and Sunny but Hide stop him"

"What?" Elita asked with an alarmed expression on her face.

"Our base was attacked the other orn," Optimus explained. "Bumblebee and the twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, were hiding from Ironhide when the alarms went off. One of the Decepticons found them, but Ironhide was able to stop him before he could do anything."

"Has anything else happened?"

"On the security monitors we found Laserbeak outside of where Bumblebee and the twins were hiding. We are not sure if he saw them or not."

Elita was quiet for a few moments thinking. She knew that Bumblebee was safe with Optimus, but after hearing about what had recently happened at their base she felt that she needed to be there as well.

"Optimus, I'm not far from the base right now. I wanted to stop by anyways to see you and Bumblebee, but now I think I'll definitely come with my sisters."

Optimus and Elita exchanged a few more words before ending the conversation. Once the screen faded to black Bumblebee looked up at Optimus with a puzzled expression on his face. While he was glad to hear that Elita was coming to see them, he was confused as to way she had seemed worried when Optimus had told her about what had happened.

"Op, why Lita scared?"

"She's just worried because we could have lost you the other orn."

"But Hide save Bee, so why still scared?"

"We don't know if one of the Decepticons saw you. Elita and I just want to make sure that you are safe."

"Why Bee not be safe?"

Optimus sighed trying to think of how to give Bumblebee an explanation he would understand. He knew that Bumblebee was far too young to understand exactly what the war was about and why everyone was fighting. After contemplating for a couple of breems he decided to give Bumblebee a watered down version.

"Bumblebee you know that the Decepticons do not like Autobots right? Well since I'm leader of the Autobots they especially do not like me or Elita for that matter and since they do not like us, we are worried that they might try to… hurt you."

Optimus struggled to find the right words to use. He was not going to let Bumblebee know that the Decepticons would most likely try to kill him if they knew he was related to him and Elita, but the sparkling did need to know that the Decepticons would not be nice to him.

"Bad bots can't know Bee Op and Lita's sparkling?"

"That's right little one. They can't know that you are our sparkling."

"Bee no tell them."

"I know you won't. Now come on, I think we should go let the others know that Elita, Chromia, and Arcee are coming."

"Bee miss Lita."

"So have I Bumblebee, so have I."


	5. Chapter 5

Bumblebee impatiently squirmed in Optimus' arms while they waited for Elita and her sisters to arrive at the base. What was taking them so long? Ever since they had told the others that Elita, Chromia, and Arcee were coming to the base to visit, Bumblebee had been buzzing with excitement. Unfortunately sparklings weren't very patient and eventually they would become impatient. This was the current case with Bumblebee. Optimus sighed and tried to get the sparkling to settle down, with no avail. Ironhide watched the scene with slight amusement. He wasn't the best when it came to sparklings and younglings – he got aggravated with the twins after watching them for fifteen breems – and was glad that Ratchet had taken on the role as their guardian, at the very least the medic had a bit more patience with them than he did for the most part. After Optimus and Elita had had Bumblebee, he and Chromia had talked about having a sparkling of their own, but soon decided that they weren't ready for one just yet. Now he was glad that they had come to that decision.

"Impatient little mech isn't he," Ironhide said to Optimus.

"Yes he is," Optimus replied. "You need to wait a little while longer Bumblebee."

"No!" Bumblebee protested.

"Elita will be here in just a few more breems little one," Optimus told the sparkling. He turned to face Ironhide. "Where are Ratchet and the twins at?"

"We're here," Ratchet said as he entered the room with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "I was reminding them to be on their best behavior and to not pull any pranks."

"Like that'll happen," Ironhide muttered.

"We can stop pulling pranks for a little while," Sideswipe said in response.

"I don't even come up with any of the pranks, Sides does," Sunstreaker added.

"I get bored," Sideswipe said in defense.

Before the conversation could continue any further, Bumblebee renewed his struggling in Optimus' arms.

"Lita!" he squealed, reaching his arms out.

Optimus and the others turned their heads to see Elita, Chromia, and Arcee enter the room. Judging from the smiles on their faces they had been in the room throughout the conversation about the twins' pranks. Elita walked over to Optimus and plucked Bumblebee from his arms.

"Hello there Bumblebee," she smiled at him.

"Bee and Op missed," Bumblebee said to her.

"You did?" she asked, smiling up at her sparkmate.

"Mm-hmm," Bumblebee said snuggling up against her, though not before waving at Chromia and Arcee.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elita sat with Optimus on the edge of his berth watching Bumblebee crawl around the floor playing. Chromia was off somewhere with Ironhide and Arcee was watching Sideswipe and Sunstreaker for Ratchet for a little while. Optimus had his arm around Elita and she couldn't believe how long it had been since they had all been in the same place together. She wished that the war wasn't going on so she could be with her sparkmate and sparkling more often.

"So you missed me?" Elita softly asked Optimus.

"Every breem," Optimus murmured.

"I've missed you as well. I hate being apart."

"How long can you stay here?" Optimus asked.

"A couple of orns as long as nothing happens. I wish I could stay longer, especially since Bumblebee is here with you now. I feel like I'm going to miss so much."

"You won't," Optimus assured. "I'll contact you as much as possible so you can talk to him and you can come see us at any time or we can come see you."

"It's not the same," Elita sighed. "Do you remember when you saw him for the first time? You were afraid to hold him because he was so small."

Optimus nodded his head. How could he ever possibly forget that orn? Seeing Bumblebee for the very first time was one of his most cherished memories.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Optimus stared at the small creature lying on the medical berth in front of himself and Elita. Only breems ago did the sparkling come online for the first time. In all of his vorns of existence, Optimus didn't believe he had ever seen anything quite as small as the sparkling. His sparkling. Baby blue optics looked up at him with such innocence and curiosity it made Optimus' spark fill with love. He wanted nothing more than to just lift the sparkling off of the berth then and there and hold him close, but he was almost afraid of holding him. He had never truly interacted with a sparkling before, let alone held one. His small size made Optimus worry that even the slightest mishap could end up injuring the sparkling._

_"He's so small," he softly said to Elita as she very carefully picked their son up for the first time._

_"All sparklings are small," she reminded him. "He's just a bit smaller. You won't break him if you hold him Optimus. Just be gentle. He wants you to hold him too."_

_Optimus could feel the sparkling's spark reaching out for him and he carefully stroked the top of his head. Meanwhile the sparkling made a soft cooing noise at the two of them and started to fall into recharge. Optimus and Elita both exchanged a smile at each other before looking back down at their little sparkling. They both were worried about raising a sparkling in a war-torn world, but seeing their son now their worries seemed to be far away. He was here with them now and that was all that mattered._

_"We still need to name him," Optimus said._

_"Did you have anything in mind?" Elita asked._

_Optimus looked at the sparkling in Elita's arms._

_"How about Bumblebee?" Optimus suggested._

_"Bumblebee. Hmm I like it," Elita replied. "How did you come up with it?"_

_"He just looks like a Bumblebee," he answered._

_"Hello my little Bumblebee," Elita whispered softly to the sparkling._

_"Hello little one," Optimus whispered as well. "We love you. We'll protect you."_

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Optimus was brought out of the memory by a small tapping on his pede. He looked down to see Bumblebee looking up at him expectantly. His arms were raised, indicating that he wanted Optimus to pick him up. Optimus smiled at him, lifted him up, and sat him between himself and Elita. Elita smiled and patted him on his head, causing Bumblebee to smile at her.

"I would take him with me to stay for a while, but he has the twins to play with here and we move around so much, I think it would too much change for him," Elita said to Optimus.

"We knew this wasn't going to be easy when we decided to have him," Optimus reminded.

"I know," Elita replied. She was silent for a moment before something crossed her mind. "Optimus whenever he gets older do you think he'll be a Prime?"

"I do not know," Optimus quietly admitted. "Sentinel always seemed to believe that if we were to ever have a sparkling, it would become a Prime. I hope he was wrong though. There does not need to be any more reasons for him to be targeted and leadership is a burden I do not want him to have to bear."

"Maybe he won't have to bear it. We still have a while before we'll know for sure. Let's not worry about it until then."

Optimus agreed. Right now their family was finally together again and there was no reason to dampen the mood.


	6. Chapter 6

Elita sat on the ground next to Bumblebee while he played with some of his toys. Optimus had to look over more reports, so Elita decided that this was a good opportunity to spend time with Bumblebee with just the two of them. She was spending every possible moment with Bumblebee before she had to go back to the rest of her squadron. She smiled as he showed her one of his toys before returning to playing with them and gently stroked the top of his head, thinking about how she and Optimus playfully debated on who Bumblebee was more like. Optimus insisted that he took after Elita, but in Elita's mind he was much more like Optimus.

"You're going to be a lot like him someday when you're older I imagine," she murmured.

Bumblebee leaned his head back to look up at her in curiosity.

"Brave, strong, caring," Elita continued.

"A good leader?"

Elita was startled by the new voice and pulled Bumblebee closer to her before looking up to see her youngest sister standing in the doorway. She immediately relaxed and let Bumblebee go. Arcee had an apologetic look on her face, clearly not meaning to startle her oldest sister. Elita waved for her to come inside and Arcee walked over to sit down beside her and Bumblebee.

"You and Optimus are both good leaders, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if he was a good leader as well," Arcee explained.

"Mm-hmm, only if he has to be," Elita replied.

"Cee want to play?" Bumblebee asked, handing a toy over to Arcee.

"Sure," Arcee said taking the toy from her nephew before looking back at Elita. "He's such a friendly sparkling."

"Yes he is," Elita agreed. "Only if he knows whoever is in the same room as him that is. If he doesn't know them, he can be rather quiet. So what brings you here Arcee?"

"Oh nothing really. Chromia is with Ironhide, so I thought that I would come see you and 'Bee. I haven't really got to see him all that much."

Truthfully before the past orn Arcee had really only seen Bumblebee once, maybe twice before Optimus and Elita had decided that he would be safer from the war at the Youth Sectors. She regretted not spending more time with him. He was a precious little spark and it was clear to see that he was the center of Optimus and Elita's world.

"I guess you're dreading having to leave," Arcee said to Elita.

"I dread it every single moment. I absolutely hate being away from Optimus and Bumblebee. I worry constantly that something bad will end up happening while I'm not here," Elita quietly said.

"Elita I'm sure that both of them will be fine. After all anyone who lays a servo on Bumblebee has a death wish," Arcee reminded. "No one here is going to let anyone hurt him."

"I know that," Elita sighed pulling Bumblebee onto her lap. "But there's always something that could go wrong."

And those thoughts on what could go wrong would constantly plague Elita's mind whenever she was away from Optimus and Bumblebee. One of them could get injured or a virus and Elita wouldn't even know about it until later. Or something could happen to Optimus in battle and Bumblebee would be left alone. While she knew that Optimus liked to have Bumblebee with him whenever he wasn't with her, it wouldn't always be possible. There was a good chance that they could be separated due to a battle and something bad could always end up happening because of that. Elita had always worried about something happening to Optimus during a battle and he knew that he did the same with her. But now that they had Bumblebee, those worries had increased. Their sparkling needed both of them, but because of the war they both couldn't always be there with him. Elita tried to ignore the fact that there was a chance that before the war was over Bumblebee might not have either of them. She reminded herself that he would never truly be alone. There would always be Chromia and Ironhide or Arcee to watch him if she and Optimus couldn't.

"Nothing is going to go wrong Elita," Arcee said placing a servo on her sister's shoulder. "Bumblebee has a lot of bots that will protect him."

The fact that there were also plenty of bots who would try to kill Bumblebee went unsaid. One of those bots was even Bumblebee's uncle, something that both parties were currently unaware of. Megatron never needed to know that Bumblebee was Optimus' son, and while Bumblebee would have to learn about Megatron eventually, Optimus and Elita were wanting him to remain oblivious to it as long as possible.

"Lita scared?" Bumblebee questioned looking back up at her. He thought for a moment before trying to wrap his arms around Elita.

"What are you doing little one?" Elita asked.

"Bee stay with Lita, so Lita no scared," Bumblebee explained.

Elita placed her servo on Bumblebee's back.

"Thank you Bumblebee," she said, causing Bumblebee to beam up at her.

"See Bumblebee thinks everything will be alright too," Arcee smiled. "He reminded me of you just then. You would always make sure that Chromia and I would feel better whenever we were scared when we were younger. I probably should get going. I told Ratchet that I would watch the twins again."

"Are you enjoying watching the twins?" Elita asked as Arcee got up to leave.

"Yeah I am. They try to get on Ratchet's nerves now and then, but I think they just get bored. There's really not much they can do here," Arcee replied as she left the room.

Elita looked back down at Bumblebee, "What would you like to do now?"

Arcee was probably right. Everything would be just fine. But fate it seemed had other plans because right at that moment before Bumblebee could even answer her, the sound that everyone had been dreading to hear filled the air once more. Alarms – the Decepticons were attacking… again. Elita shielded Bumblebee to her chest as she stood up. Bumblebee was looking at her with terrified optics and Elita couldn't help but wonder why all of this was happening now.

: Elita, is Bumblebee with you? :

: Yes. Optimus what's happening? :

: Another attack. This time it is much larger than before. There are some not far from where you and Bumblebee are at. Please be careful. :

: We will be. Is he here with them as well? :

: He is. Elita if he sees you –:

: He won't Optimus. I'll make sure that he doesn't see me and Bumblebee. We'll come meet up with you soon. :

: Be safe. :

"Ok Bumblebee, we're going to go find Optimus. I need you to be quiet; can you do that for me?"

Bumblebee nodded his head. He was getting tired of hearing the alarms. Every time he heard them, someone tried to hurt him. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Elita transformed one of her arms into a blaster while using the other to keep a tight grip on Bumblebee as she approached the door. She looked out into the hallway and saw that the coast was clear. She briskly stepped out and headed towards where she thought Optimus was at – blaster ready to shoot at anyone who tried to harm her sparkling. Everything was going just fine until she heard the thunderous footsteps. Elita quickly looked around, but found no place to hide. And there was not time to, because right then Megatron stepped into her field of vision.

"No," she whispered in panic.

He couldn't be here. He couldn't see that she was holding Bumblebee. He couldn't see Bumblebee at all! But he could and he was. Megatron gazed at the femme and sparkling with interest before a cruel smirk formed on his face, sending chills through Elita's spark.

"Well if it isn't my dear brother's sparkmate. I wasn't expecting to see you here Elita, and what is that that you have with you? A sparkling perhaps?" Megatron took a step towards the pair.

"Stay away Megatron," Elita warned aiming her blaster at the tyrant.

Megatron took another step towards her, unsheathing his blade. Slowly but surely it seemed his suspicions were being confirmed. Of course there was one bot in particular whose reaction he would need to see. And to be able to see it he would need to take the sparkling from the femme currently protecting him. As if sensing what he was planning, Elita started to fire at him. Megatron avoided some of her blasts and ignored the ones that did hit him. He reached her in a few strides, forcing Elita to stop firing and start defending. Unfortunately for her shielding Bumblebee at the same time was limiting what she could do and it wasn't long until Megatron got the opening he needed. Elita let out a gasp as Megatron's blade penetrated her side – the pain and shock causing her to loosen her grip on Bumblebee. Megatron seized the opportunity to snatch Bumblebee from Elita's grasp before shoving the femme aside.

"Lita!" Bumblebee cried, reaching his arms out to her.

"You're coming with me sparkling," Megatron said, walking away from the downed femme.

"No!" Bumblebee bawled his servos into tiny fists and pounded on Megatron's servo. "Put down! Lita!"

Megatron ignored the sparkling's futile attempts at escaping him and headed in the direction of where he had just been notified that Optimus was at. He was sure that Elita had already alerted Optimus to what happened, and there was no doubt that the sparkling's constant cries would lure Optimus to them. Sure enough it was only a matter of breems before Optimus appeared – optics blazing with anger, something Megatron rarely saw.

"Put him down Megatron," Optimus said, fighting to keep his voice level.

"Op!" Bumblebee exclaimed, clearly relieved to see the Autobot leader.

"Getting attached to a sparkling wasn't a smart move to make brother," Megatron chuckled seeing Soundwave arrive at the scene in the shadows.

"Megatron let him go!"

"As you wish."

Megatron tossed the sparkling over to Soundwave who immediately took off with him. Megatron had no intentions on losing the one form of leverage he had against Optimus any time soon. Optimus started to rush after Soundwave to get the sparkling back, but Megatron wasted no time in tackling him to the ground – allowing Soundwave time to leave the base.

"Your actions are only confirming my suspicions Prime. I thought you would be more careful," Megatron said.

Optimus fought to get Megatron off of him. He had to get to Bumblebee, he needed him. But by the time that Optimus had lost Megatron he knew deep down that he was too late. Bumblebee was no longer at the Autobot base. He was gone.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Optimus sat in the med bay while Ratchet repaired Elita's side. After the battle he had had every intention of going and searching for the Decepticon's base, but the others had stopped him and reminded him that he needed a plan and that he couldn't go alone. Elita looked completely distraught and Optimus imagined that he didn't look much better. One of the things they had hoped never would happen had. Optimus looked Elita in the optics and grasped her servo.

"We'll find him Elita," Optimus promised. "We will get Bumblebee back."


	7. Chapter 7

Optimus stared at the reports in front of him of the suspected locations of the Decepticons recent whereabouts. Elita and her sisters had already left to get the rest of their squadron to start searching. They had decided that splitting up would be the best choice of action for now. The sooner the Decepticons were found, the sooner Optimus and Elita would have their sparkling back with them. But right now Optimus was having a hard time focusing on all of the reports he had. Every few breems he would lose focus and worry would take over his mind. What was happening to Bumblebee at that very moment? Was he alright?

 _Why did you have to do this brother?_ Optimus thought. _Why couldn't you have just left Bumblebee alone? Why did you have to start this war in the first place?_

Optimus put the report down and closed his optics, letting past memories play throughout his mind.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Optimus knew what Elita was going to say before she said it. He had seen it in her optics for the past few orns ever since she returned from visiting the Youth Sectors. And he knew that it was only a matter of time before she finally told him what she wanted. Honestly he was surprised she hadn't come to him before now._

_"Optimus I want us to have a sparkling."_

_"Elita I thought we agreed that we would wait until the war was over before having one," Optimus said._

_"That was vorns ago Optimus," Elita quietly replied. "I'm starting to think that this war is never going to end."_

_"It will end," he promised. "It wouldn't be safe for us to have a sparkling now. It would be targeted and would have to grow up during a war. I wouldn't want that for our sparkling. I want our sparkling to be able to live in peace. We should wait."_

_"Wait for what? One of us to die? Optimus what if we can't have a sparkling after the war is over? What if you're dead! What if I'm dead by the end of it!"_

_Optimus stared at his sparkmate in surprise for a moment before walking over to her and pulling her close to him. He understood her worry about one of them dying before the war was over and he knew that there was a chance that that could end up happening. And the same thing could end up happening to their sparkling if they had one. Optimus knew that it would kill Elita if they had a sparkling and something ended up happening to it._

_"That won't happen," he said to her._

_"You don't know that," she murmured. "We can't control fate."_

_"A sparkling could get killed."_

_"I know that Optimus. I know all of the risks having a sparkling would bring. But I think the rewards would be greater. I know I want to have a little Optimus running around the base."_

_"A little Optimus? How do you know it won't be a little Elita?" he asked with a smile._

_"Oh I just know," Elita replied. "So are we going to have one or not?"_

_"You truly believe that this is a good idea?"_

_"I do."_

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So they had had Bumblebee and it was a decision that Optimus would never regret. Bumblebee was a light in the dreary world that he and Elita were living in. And Elita had been correct in thinking that the rewards of having a sparkling would be greater than the risks. But risks always loomed over them, and now his sparkling was in enemy territory. And Optimus had no way of knowing what was happening to him. Bumblebee was still alive, he could tell that much, and at the very least he could take some comfort in that piece of knowledge. Optimus picked up another report and started looking over it while another memory entered his mind.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_He smiled looking down at the sparkling that was currently recharging in his arms. After Ratchet had checked over the sparkling one last time a joor ago, Optimus and Elita had taken their son back to their room. It was then that Optimus finally held Bumblebee for the first time. The little sparkling had woke up for a few breems when Optimus held him, but soon fell back into recharge. Ratchet had reminded Optimus and Elita that sparklings usually mostly only recharged for their first few orns and that for their first vorn they would need to recharge often._

_"Arcee and Chromia want to see him," Elita said. "I told them they could come later."_

_"I have been thinking that we should only let our closest friends know about him right now."_

_"I agree," Elita replied. "So that's Ironhide and Ratchet, who already know, and Jazz for you and my squadron for me."_

_"That sounds about right."_

_A small coo caused Optimus to look down at Bumblebee in his arms. The sparkling had woke up and was now reaching a tiny servo up at him. Optimus lifted him up a little higher and let the sparkling pat at his face. Elita let out a small laugh while Optimus just smiled at their son. Bumblebee turned his head at the sound of Elita's laugh and cooed at her. She walked over and took Bumblebee's servo in her own._

_"What's my little Bumblebee doing?" she asked him._

_The tiny sparkling let out a series of clicks at Elita as if he were answering her. Elita smiled at him and nodded her head. Bumblebee turned his head back towards Optimus and clicked at him before patting his face again._

_"He gets entertained easily," Optimus said to Elita._

_"We're going to need to get him some toys to play with," she replied._

_"We can do that later when he's recharging."_

_Right then the most important thing to Optimus was spending time with his family._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh how Optimus wished that his family was with him right now. In his opinion no one should have to deal with a missing sparkling. It was then that he picked up the report that gave him the information he had been searching for. Kaon – the worst possible place for any Autobot to be and the perfect location for the Decepticon base. It was a good distance from Iacon, but not too far to where it would take more than a few joors to get to. And Kaon was the place where Bumblebee would be found. Optimus just knew it.

_Hold on little one. I'm coming._


	8. Chapter 8

Bumblebee looked at the Decepticons surrounding him with terrified optics. What did they want and why had they taken him away from Optimus and Elita? Did they know that he was their sparkling? Bumblebee started to tremble. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be with Optimus and Elita and all of the other Autobots. He felt safe with them.

"What exactly are we supposed to do with a sparkling?" Starscream questioned Megatron. "Surely you don't expect us to waste precious resources taking care of it."

"No resources are going to be wasted on the sparkling. No energon is to be given to him," Megatron replied.

"Why not just kill it now then. I see no point in keeping it here," Starscream retorted.

"Simple Starscream, the sparkling is going to lead Optimus Prime to us."

Both Decepticons watched as the sparkling perked up at the mention of Optimus.

"Op come get Bee?" Bumblebee asked.

"Oh I'm sure he will sparkling," Megatron stated. He knew that his brother was eventually going to come and had set up a blockade to delay him. "But by the time he gets here it will be too late."

"Too late?"

"Yes too late. Do you want to know what is going to happen sparkling?"

Bumblebee seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding his head. Starscream was also listening in interest – curious as to what his leader was planning this time.

"While you are here you will not receive any energon or recharge. Without those two things by the time Optimus gets here you will be near death. Optimus will be so crushed that he was unable to save you that he will be easy for me to kill. When all of this is over both you and Optimus Prime will be dead, and I will be closer to winning this war."

"What makes you so sure that Optimus will come for the sparkling Lord Megatron? It's a useless creature."

"You can see that the sparkling is close to Prime. And Optimus and Elita both were trying to protect him. They care about him and I have suspicions as to why."

There was little doubt in Megatron's mind that this was his brother's son. While he had no concrete evidence, Optimus' reactions earlier were proof enough for him. Even if he was wrong, there was no denying that Optimus was close to the sparkling and that closeness was going to be his demise. He could tell that the yellow sparkling was fairly young. While any sparkling could offline after a while without energon and recharge, the younger they were the faster they would offline. This was an advantage to him as he imagined it would only be about two orns tops before Optimus arrived.

"No hurt Op!"

Megatron turned his attention back to the sparkling who was now glaring at him.

"I will do whatever I want sparkling and there is nothing you can do to stop me!"

"NO!" Bumblebee screamed as loud as he could.

Megatron growled and swatted at the sparkling. All this resulted in was Bumblebee falling on the hard ground. The sparkling was silent for a moment before he began to cry. Megatron roughly lifted him up and placed him back to where he had been sitting before. It took Bumblebee several breems to stop his crying.

"Hurts," he whimpered pointing to his left leg and then to his left arm.

"Does it now?" Starscream asked placing his servo on the sparkling's leg causing Bumblebee to cry out in pain.

Sparklings were more fragile than younglings and injured easier than fully mature Cybertronians, so it was clear to Megatron that Bumblebee must have damaged something in his left side when he fell. While he had no qualms about the sparkling being injured, his screams and cries were quite irritating to Megatron's audio receptors.

"Starscream enough!" Megatron ordered pulling his second in command away. "Go make yourself useful and find a storage container to keep our guest in. We wouldn't want him to wander off and get hurt now would we?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bumblebee tiredly stared at the door to the room he was in. He wanted to recharge, but every time he was almost in recharge someone would jab him in the side – forcing him awake. Bumblebee was having a hard time keeping his optics open, but he had to. If he kept them open, he would be left alone. A few breems later Bumblebee realized that he couldn't keep them open any longer and closed them. Maybe he could get a little bit of recharge before anyone noticed.

It was Megatron who noticed that the sparkling had slipped into recharge. He wasted no time in stabbing Bumblebee's side again and watched as his optics reopened. Unlike the past few times he had been awakened, the sparkling did not shriek. He only let out a quiet whimper and looked up at Megatron pleadingly.

"Tired," he said. "Let recharge please."

Megatron was about to tell the sparkling no when he thought of something. He still hadn't found a way to confirm whether or not this was Prime's son. Perhaps he would be able to get the information out of the sparkling now that he was exhausted.

"I'll let you recharge for five breems sparkling, on one condition. You have to tell me who your creators are."

Vaguely Bumblebee recalled Optimus telling him that the Decepticons could not know that he was his and Elita's sparkling and that if they did find out they would be mean to him. They were already being mean to him and Bumblebee certainly didn't want it to get worse. Plus he had told Optimus that he would not tell them, and he did not want to disappoint Optimus.

"No s'posed tell," Bumblebee said.

"Then you don't get any recharge," Megatron stated before turning away from the sparkling.

: Lord Megatron. :

: What is it? :

: The Autobots have arrived at the blockade sir. I'm not sure how long we can hold them. :

Megatron frowned; he hadn't expected them to arrive at the blockade this soon. He looked back at the sparkling and noticed something blue on his side. On closer inspection he realized that the sparkling's side was leaking a small amount of energon – no doubt from all of the times he had been stabbed there to be forced awake. If it was left untreated it could become life threatening – which suited Megatron's plan perfectly. Even if Optimus arrived sooner than expected, he would still be too late for him to rescue the sparkling.

: Delay them as long as possible. Should this plan fail, there will be severe consequences! :


	9. Chapter 9

Something was wrong with Bumblebee. Shortly after he and the other Autobots had arrived at the Decepticons' blockade, Optimus started to feel Bumblebee's spark weaken through their bond. Terror gripped the Autobot leader to the core. What had happened to his son? Optimus quickly returned his focus to the fight at hand. The sooner he got past this blockade, the sooner he could get to Bumblebee. And he needed to get to Bumblebee as soon as possible. Optimus blocked a blow from one of the Decepticons before firing his cannon at him. He took a quick glance at his teammates. Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz were all locked in battle. As another Decepticon drew near, Optimus unsheathed the blade in his arm. There was no doubt that this was going to last longer than Optimus wanted it to.

: Bumblebee is hurt. : Optimus told Ratchet, Ironhide, and Jazz over the com. : We need to get past this blockade soon. :

Ratchet paused momentarily when he received Optimus' message. If Optimus knew that Bumblebee was hurt that meant that one of two things had happened. Either Megatron had contacted Optimus to gloat or Bumblebee's spark was fading. And Ratchet had a sickening feeling that the latter was what was currently happening.

: How bad is it Optimus? : Ratchet asked.

: His spark his getting weaker. :

: Optimus, Jazz and I will take care of the 'Cons here. You and Ratchet get to Kaon. :

Optimus finished fighting one of the Decepticons and nodded in Ironhide's direction before transforming and driving away with Ratchet right behind him.

* * *

Twenty breems later Optimus and Ratchet were in front of what could only be the Decepticons' base. In that amount of time Bumblebee's condition had not improved and Optimus could continuously feel his sparkling's spark get weaker. As he and Ratchet entered the base a new worry arose, the base was practically lifeless. There was no one trying to stop them. After a moment Optimus realized that Megatron wanted him to find Bumblebee. They were walking straight into a trap. But he knew that if he was ever going to get his son back, he was going to have to walk into this trap.

"Optimus I'm detecting an energon signature in that direction," Ratchet said.

The two Autobots headed in the direction of the energon signature and it wasn't long before they found the cause of it. Optimus felt something clench inside of his chest when he saw Bumblebee sitting in a storage container looking down at the wall with extremely dim optics. The right side of the sparkling's body was stained with energon. Optimus quickly bent down and picked the sparkling up.

"Bumblebee?"

The sparkling looked up at Optimus exhaustedly.

"Op?" Bumblebee asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"I'm here little one," Optimus replied standing back up.

"Let me see him Optimus," Ratchet said.

The Autobot leader carefully handed Bumblebee over to the medic. Ratchet did a quick scan on Bumblebee to see what exactly was wrong with him. It did not take long for the results to come back to him. Aside from the torn energon lines in Bumblebee's right side, there was a small bit of circuitry damage in his left side that was interfering with the sparkling's left arm and leg. Bumblebee was also recharge deprived and was getting very low on energon. Ratchet knew that he would be able to seal up the energon lines right away, though it would only be a temporary fix. He would have to wait until they got back to Iacon before he would be able to fully fix them. But unless they were able to get Bumblebee some more energon Ratchet wasn't sure if he would be able to make it to Iacon. The damaged circuitry would also have to wait to be repaired until they returned to Iacon before it could be fixed. After he finished temporarily sealing Bumblebee's torn lines he handed him back to Optimus.

"That's only a temporary fix. He has some circuitry damage as well that will have to be fixed later. Right now we need to find some energon to give him. His levels are getting dangerously low. Normally I would do a transfusion, but I don't have the equipment to do so now," Ratchet explained.

"Tired," Bumblebee whimpered.

"I know you are little one, but I need you to stay awake for a little while longer. You can recharge soon," Optimus promised before looking back at Ratchet. "He doesn't have enough energon to last him until we get to Iacon?"

"I'm not sure. It's possible that he does, but it would be a very close call. If we ran into the even slightest delay, there's a chance he could enter stasis lock."

It was dangerous for a sparkling as young as Bumblebee to enter stasis lock. As far as Optimus knew there had never been any who had survived it. And while he wanted them all to get out of the Decepticon base as soon as possible, he was not going to risk his son's life in the process. If Bumblebee needed energon, they would stay and find some.

"Let's start searching."

Optimus carefully covered Bumblebee's tiny body with one of his servos to shield him from any more harm. He knew that his brother was inside of the base somewhere and Optimus was doubtful that he was going to hold off from attacking much longer. Megatron was waiting for something. As for what it was, Optimus was not sure, but he had a feeling that he was going to find out soon.

As he walked through the halls of the Decepticon base Optimus could feel small tremors occasionally rack through Bumblebee's frame. He glanced over at Ratchet as they entered a fifth room. They weren't having much luck in finding any energon and the longer it went without any sign of the Decepticons, the more suspicious Optimus became.

"Something is not right Ratchet," Optimus said as they walked out of the room.

"I agree. It's too quiet, normally the Decepticons would have made themselves known by now," Ratchet nodded his head.

"I believe Megatron is waiting for something to happen. I do not believe his waiting game is going to last much longer."

As they walked into another room Optimus' prediction proved to be correct. Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave were all standing in the room and in Megatron's servo laid a cube of energon. The one thing Optimus and Ratchet had been searching for. Megatron had a cruel smirk formed on his face.

"It's about time you arrived brother," Megatron stated. "I was beginning to think you were never going to come."

"What do you want Megatron?"

"You already know the answer to that Optimus. The real question here is what do you want? A cube of energon for the poor little sparkling perhaps?"

Bumblebee shifted to take a quick glance over at the three Decepticons. He quickly turned his head back to look up at Optimus while shaking his head. He then buried his head back into Optimus' chest, too tired to do anything else.

"That sparkling will never make it out of here without this energon brother. So I am going to give you the choice. The sparkling's life or your own." 


	10. Chapter 10

" _The sparkling's life or your own."_

Megatron's words echoed throughout Optimus' mind. If he hadn't known his brother as well as he had, he might would have believed that Megatron would actually let Bumblebee go if Optimus decided to give up his own life. But Optimus knew that there was little chance that Megatron would let the sparkling live. No the second he was offline, Megatron would kill Bumblebee and Ratchet as well. Optimus glanced down at his son. Bumblebee was still shaking and his right servo was clutching to Optimus' armor. He needed to get out of Kaon and he needed that energon cube. Even if Optimus didn't believe that Megatron would let them go, he could still at least give Ratchet and Bumblebee a chance at escaping.

"Give me the energon Megatron," Optimus said.

Megatron lightly tossed the cube up before catching it again, "This is very valuable. I do believe that it is the only cube of energon we have at the moment."

Megatron threw the energon cube towards Optimus – who quickly caught it. As soon as the energon cube was in his servos, Optimus gazed down at his sparkling one last time before handing him and the energon over to Ratchet. Bumblebee instantly protested and tried to hold onto Optimus.

"No," Bumblebee whimpered. "Bee no leave Op!"

"You need to go Bumblebee," Optimus said prying the sparkling's servo away before looking at Ratchet. "Get him out of here."

"Optimus we can't just leave you-"

"Go Ratchet!"

: The chances of all three of us getting out of here alive are slim, but I will try to hold them off so you and Bumblebee can get out of Kaon. If I do not make it, please get him to Elita. :

: I hope it won't come to that Optimus. :

Optimus watched as Ratchet rushed out of the room with Bumblebee. Now all he had to do was give them enough time to get out of the base. Then as if a silent order had been given, Soundwave and Starscream both bolted towards the door. Realizing that they were no doubt going after Ratchet, Optimus transformed his arm into his cannon and fired at the two Decepticons. When the two were knocked back Optimus moved to where he was directly in front of the door. If they wanted to get out, they were going to have to go through him first.

"Bumblebee has nothing to do with this war Megatron. Let him and Ratchet go!"

"I disagree with you on that Optimus," Megatron stated before attacking.

Optimus used the blade in his arm to block Megatron's attack.

"As soon as I'm done with you, I'm going to kill that sparkling. There will be nothing left as a reminder of you!" Megatron growled.

"I will not let you hurt him Megatron. Not again."

Optimus continued to hold off Megatron while also trying to make sure that neither of the other Decepticons were able to leave the room to go after Ratchet and Bumblebee. Soon Starscream stopped trying to leave and joined Megatron in fighting Optimus. Before he could ponder the sudden change of tactics, Optimus noticed Soundwave trying to leave again. Using the Autobot leader's brief moment of distraction, Megaton was able to get in a good hit, knocking Optimus aside and allowing Soundwave to head off after the medic and sparkling.

* * *

Ratchet had not even made it close to the entrance of the base when Soundwave's minions had come out of nowhere. He had managed to fend off Ravage and Laserbeak for a short while before finding an empty room to hide in. He needed to think of an escape plan. While he was thinking, he let Bumblebee drink the energon.

"Why leave Op?" Bumblebee questioned.

The sparkling was clearly distressed and Ratchet knew that he probably wouldn't understand why Optimus had decided to stay behind. Ratchet hoped that Optimus would be able to make it out of Kaon with them alive, because he did not want to be the one who had to explain to Bumblebee why Optimus wasn't coming back. As far as he could tell, Optimus was still alive. Bumblebee wasn't shrieking from a severed bond, so that meant that Optimus was alive.

"He's just trying to give us time to leave Bumblebee," Ratchet explained.

"Op be okay?"

"I hope so."

: Soundwave is coming after you. :

Optimus' message through the com startled Ratchet for a moment.

"We need to find a way out of here now," Ratchet said. "Recharge for now Bumblebee. I'll wake you up when we get back to Iacon."

As soon as Bumblebee was in recharge, Ratchet headed out of the room and started for the exit again. He hadn't got far when he was knocked to the ground by Ravage. Bumblebee was jerked from his recharge when he fell out of Ratchet's grasp and skidded across the floor. Soundwave calmly walked over to Bumblebee, picked him up, and pointed his weapon at him.

"One move and the sparkling dies Autobot," Soundwave stated to Ratchet.

Ratchet looked at Bumblebee, regretful optics meeting terrified ones. If the sparkling offlined, he would never forgive himself for failing Optimus.

"Now I don't think you want to be doing that," a new voice cut in.

Soundwave turned around to see Jazz and Ironhide. And in the weapons specialist's servos was Laserbeak.

"If you hurt the sparkling, then you're going to lose one of yours," Ironhide said. "You give us Bumblebee and we'll give you Laserbeak back."

: Ratchet you have any way to knock him out? : Jazz asked through the com.

: I can use my EMP, just keep him distracted. :

Ratchet carefully pulled himself up before bringing out him EMP Generator. Before Ravage could alert Soundwave, Ratchet fired and Soundwave fell to the ground. Ironhide threw Laserbeak aside while Jazz went over and picked up Bumblebee. Bumblebee immediately buried his face in Jazz's neck, fear still coursing through him.

"Ratchet, where's Optimus?" Ironhide asked.

"He's fighting Megatron and probably Starscream as well. He told me to get Bumblebee out of here."

"We gotta go find him then. We can't just leave him with the 'Cons," Jazz said. "Besides Soundy here isn't going anywhere and there are four of us against the two of them."

Ratchet nodded in agreement and led them to where he and Bumblebee had left Optimus. When they arrived it was clear who was winning. Optimus was covered in various injuries, energon leaking through most of them, and it was clear that they were beginning to get the better of him. At the same time though it was clear that he had put up quite a fight. Megatron was leaking energon from a couple of injuries and Starscream looked like he was about to fall over. Ironhide immediately charged his cannons and fired at the two Decepticons, quickly gaining their attention.

"Lord Megatron may I suggest that we retreat?" Starscream asked upon seeing that they were now outnumbered.

Megatron was silent for a moment and Starscream began to wonder if his leader was actually mad enough to continue the fight. They were both injured and while Optimus Prime was injured as well, the other Autobots were not. The odds were not currently in their favor. Fortunately for Starscream, Megatron agreed with his suggestion and both Decepticons hastily retreated through another entrance.

"Optimus are you alright?" Ratchet asked hurrying over to his leader.

"I'll be fine. Where is Bumblebee?"

"He's here," Jazz said walking over with Bumblebee.

Bumblebee looked up at Optimus, "Op hurt?"

"Yes, but I'll be okay little one," Optimus replied taking Bumblebee from Jazz.

"Can you transform?" Ratchet questioned doing a quick scan on Optimus' condition.

"I believe so. Let's go home."


	11. Chapter 11

The drive back to the base was going smoothly. There were no attacks on them and while Optimus was still leaking a bit of energon here and there, Ratchet was keeping a close optic on his condition and was fairly certain that the Autobot leader would be fine. Bumblebee was currently curled up inside Optimus' alt-mode getting a much needed recharge. Ratchet wondered how the sparkling was going to act once he woke up. While physically he would be fine after Ratchet was able to repair his circuitry damage and seal his energon lines better, his mental state was another thing entirely. As a sparkling, Bumblebee did not have the comprehension skills that the rest of them had and he did not understand the concept of war yet. All he knew was that he had been taken away from his creators, had been hurt, and then had saw his father hurt. The medic knew that for a sparkling all of that could be traumatic. Just how traumatic, he had no idea.

_We'll find out soon enough_ , Ratchet thought as the base came into view.

The moment they entered the base Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ran up to them.

"What happened?" Sideswipe eagerly asked. "Did you beat the slag out of any 'Cons?"

Ratchet shot a glare at Ironhide upon hearing Sideswipe say slag, knowing that the weapons specialist had no doubt been the one who had cursed in front of the twins before. He had specifically told him not to do that and was going to have to talk to him later. Right now he needed to get Optimus and Bumblebee to his med-bay.

"Jazz will you keep the twins entertained for a little while?" Ratchet asked.

"Sure thing Ratch," Jazz replied. "Come on you two."

Once Jazz and the twins had left, Ratchet gestured for Optimus to follow him to the med-bay.

"Repair Bumblebee first Ratchet," Optimus said the moment he entered the med-bay.

"You really need to be patched up first Optimus," the medic sighed; he had been expecting this to happen. "Bumblebee is stable, you're still leaking energon."

"Ratchet…"

"Fine, set him down on the berth."

Optimus carefully placed Bumblebee on the berth and watched silently as Ratchet got to work. After several breems, Ratchet finished his work on the sparkling and broke the silence that was hanging in the room.

"Physically he's going to be fine Optimus," he started, "but I'm not sure how he'll be mentally."

"What do you mean?"

"There is a possibility that he's going to be traumatized by what happened. He's not going to be able to fully comprehend what happened and why it did. And at his age, being sparklingnapped, seeing you hurt, and being hurt himself can and most likely will frighten him."

Optimus frowned and gently placed a servo on top of his son's head. How much more was he going to have to go through before the war was over? Bumblebee was so young and too much had happened to him already.

_How am I going to keep you safe little one?_

* * *

Ratchet tiredly sat down right after he finished repairing Optimus. Both the Autobot leader and his son were having a much needed recharge. The medic was about to do the same when he heard whimpers coming from Bumblebee. Ratchet sighed and went over to where the sparkling was recharging. Bumblebee had a look of distress on his face and Ratchet wasted no time in waking him up.

"What's wrong Bumblebee?"

"Where Op?"

"He's over here recharging," Ratchet replied carrying the yellow sparkling over to where Optimus was laying. The medic watched as the sparkling reached out a tiny servo towards Optimus and placed him down on Optimus' chest. Instinctively Bumblebee curled up around the spot above where Optimus' spark was located and its steady thrums lulled him back into recharge.

Before going to recharge himself, Ratchet decided to go check on the twins, Jazz, and Ironhide. The moment he stepped out of the med-bay, he was ambushed by Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

"Ironhide told Jazz that we're going to have to get a new base," Sideswipe said.

"Is that true?" Sunstreaker questioned.

"I'll go talk to Ironhide about it," Ratchet replied. "You two go recharge."

"But Ratchet…"

"No buts. Go."

* * *

"We're getting a new base?" Ratchet asked as he walked up to Ironhide and Jazz.

"We have to. The Decepticons know that we're here and will be able to continue attacking us here. Optimus will agree. Bumblebee is going to be a target for Megatron," Ironhide stated.

"Plus if the 'Cons are attacking, it'll be easy for the twins to get hurt too," Jazz added.

Before Ratchet could say anything else a new voice cut in.

"Where are they?"

The three mechs turned around to see Elita rush into the room with Chromia and Arcee trailing behind her.

"Optimus and Bumblebee are in the med-bay recharging. They're both fine," Ratchet said.

Elita nodded her head and walked off in the direction of the med-bay.

"You could have told us that you were coming," Ironhide said to Chromia as she walked over next to him.

"I thought it was implied that we would come when you told me that you were back and you had Bumblebee with you. Did you really think that my sister wouldn't hurry to get here?" Chromia questioned her mate.

"No, but you still could have told me."

"Where's the fun in that?"

* * *

Elita smiled softly at the sight of her sparkling curled up in recharge on top of her sparkmate's chest. All signs of any recent injuries had already vanished from their frames, with only a few old scars marring Optimus. She sat down next to the berth and placed one of her servos on Bumblebee's back. A few breems later she felt another servo cover her own. She looked at Optimus' face and saw that he was online.

"Hello," she quietly said, making sure that she wouldn't wake up Bumblebee.

"When did you get here?"

"Not too long ago. I wanted to see for myself that you both were alright. What happened?"

"You do not want to know Elita."

"Yes I do. I could have lost both of you; I deserve to know what happened to him and you. You're in the med-bay; I know that means you were hurt."

Optimus sighed, "Megatron was trying to starve him and deprived him of recharge. When we found him, he was leaking energon down one side and had circuitry damage in the other. He was low on energon and Ratchet was not sure if he would be able to make it back to base without more. Megatron had what he said was the only cube of energon left in their base. He gave me an ultimatum, either Bumblebee would die or I would die. I did not believe that he would let any of us go, but I had to give Bumblebee and Ratchet a chance to escape. They got away, but I was unable to prevent Soundwave from going after them. Ironhide and Jazz arrived and assisted them, and then they came to help me."

"I really did almost lose both of you," Elita said, her voice barely audible to Optimus.

"You didn't," he reassured lightly tightening his grip on her servo. "I would not allow that to happen. Fate could not be that cruel to you."


	12. Chapter 12

Optimus let out a sigh as he felt the small form between himself and Elita on the berth pat at his arm. He turned his head to see Bumblebee looking at him with frightened optics and he could hear small whimpers escaping his vocal processor – the telltale signs that he was unable to recharge. Again. For the past two orns every time Bumblebee recharged he was plagued with nightmares and after he woke up from one of his nightmares he would flat out refuse to go back to recharge, keeping Optimus and Elita from recharging as well. Optimus sat up and lifted Bumblebee up to his chest before glancing over at Elita. She was still in recharge and he wasn't going to wake her. At least one of them should be able to recharge. He stood up and walked out of the room and towards the rec room with Bumblebee.

When they arrived in the rec room, Optimus sat down and looked at his sparkling. Bumblebee was still awake and was holding on to Optimus' armor as if he expected to be taken away from him at any moment.

"Why can you not recharge little one?" Optimus asked gently rubbing Bumblebee's head.

"Bad ones come take away," Bumblebee whispered. "Bee no want leave Op and Lita."

"You know I will not let anyone take you away from us again Bumblebee. Now you need to recharge."

"No!"

"Bumblebee…"

"Scary," Bumblebee whimpered. "No like."

"I know little one," Optimus soothed, "but the nightmares will not last forever. You have to recharge though Bumblebee. Nothing is going to harm you."

Optimus shifted Bumblebee to where his head was against his spark – remembering that Ratchet had told him and Elita that a close proximity to their sparks might help calm Bumblebee when he was distressed and having trouble recharging. He watched as Bumblebee snuggled closer and eventually closed his optics. Once he was sure that his son was in recharge Optimus headed back to his room. If it weren't for the fact that Bumblebee was near exhaustion, Optimus knew that he would have put up more of a fuss before finally recharging.

"Another nightmare?"

"Yes," Optimus said as he sat next to Elita. "I wish there was some way I could get rid of them for him."

"I wish there was too. He's also terrified about being away from you Optimus. When you were in a meeting the other orn he was crying for you. I think he thinks that something bad will happen if you are not in the room with him. I don't know what to do."

"We will figure something out Elita. I will keep him with me tomorrow."

"Don't you have another meeting?"

"Perhaps he will recharge through it."

* * *

"No Bumblebee today?" Chromia asked as Elita walked into the room alone.

"Optimus is watching him today," Elita explained as she sat down beside her sister. "Where's Arcee?"

"Here! I was just picking up these two from Ratchet," she said, motioning the twins into the room. "You two go play with your toys."

"You sure do like watching them don't you 'Cee? Or is it that you like someone else more?" Chromia teased.

"Oh please 'Mia, I just like taking care of the younglings, that's all. Maybe you should watch them sometime."

"I would but-"

"We annoy Ironhide," Sideswipe grinned, finishing Chromia's sentence.

"Maybe if you two weren't so mischievous you wouldn't annoy Ironhide as much," Elita smiled.

"But annoying Ironhide is fun."

The three sisters all laughed at the youngling's statement.

"You're lucky that you're a youngling Sideswipe, because when you're older you won't be saying that it's fun," Chromia said.

"Why not?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Because then you can't play the cute youngling card," the blue femme replied.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker just stared at her for a moment as if they had no clue what she was talking about before deciding to go back to playing instead.

"Is Bumblebee recharging any better?" Arcee asked Elita.

"No," Elita sighed. "Optimus got him to recharge a little, but not enough. Neither of us know what to do. Optimus is going to take him to Ratchet to see if he has any ideas."

* * *

Ratchet looked over the small sparkling to see if he could find anything wrong. He knew that Bumblebee was most likely still traumatized by what had happened when he had been sparklingnapped by the Decepticons, just like he had told Optimus he would be, but he also knew that his friend would not feel better until he knew for sure that was the only problem with his son. After a few more scans he was done.

"Like I told you before Optimus, he's physically fine," Ratchet said handing his leader the sparkling. "Sparklings, just like younglings and fully grown Cybertronians, have trouble overcoming trauma."

"He will not recharge until he is exhausted Ratchet, I know that is not good for him."

"And he has separation anxiety being away from you. I know all of that Optimus. You're just going to have to give him time. I can give him a mild sedative to help him recharge if you would like. I won't do that every orn though because I don't want him to become dependent on that for recharge, but it should help him a little."

"If it will help him please do it. But what of his separation anxiety?"

"The best way would be to show him that nothing bad will happen if he is away from you, and probably Elita as well. Keep him with the two of you for the rest of the orn since I'm giving him the sedative, but tomorrow have him stay with someone else and neither you nor Elita should have any contact with him then. Bumblebee won't like it, but it will show him that he will be fine if you're not in the room with him and it should help."

Optimus gazed down at the sparkling in his arms. Bumblebee was resting his head against his shoulder and paying no mind to the conversation going on around him. He wasn't going to be the only one who wouldn't like Ratchet's idea. Optimus did not like the idea of spending an entire orn away from his son either, especially after all that had happened, but he trusted Ratchet's judgment. If Ratchet thought it would help Bumblebee, then Optimus would go along with it. He wanted Bumblebee to be back to his usual happy, perky self.

"Alright we will do that. Who will watch him?"

"I would suggest either Arcee or Ironhide and Chromia. I imagine that you and Elita would prefer him to stay with a relative and since you both mentioned that if something should happen to the two of you one of them would become Bumblebee's guardian, it would be good for him to stay with one of them so they could get used to caring for him should the worst happen – which I hope never does."

Optimus nodded in agreement, "I will inform Elita and we will decide on who should watch him."

* * *

"An entire orn away from us? I don't know Optimus…"

"I know that you don't like it Elita, and neither do I, but if it will help him like Ratchet thinks it will I think we should do it."

Elita remained silent for a moment thinking about it. She really did hate the idea of not being able to see her son for an entire orn. She had spent several orns away from him when he had been at the Youth Sectors, and after that he had still been with Optimus, but he hadn't been forcibly taken away from her before at that time.

"I really don't like it Optimus, but if you think it's a good idea then I will go along with it. I do want to suggest that we have Chromia and Ironhide watch him though. While I know Arcee can take care of younglings since she's been watching the twins some for Ratchet, neither of them has and I think it would be a good opportunity for them to get a chance to practice taking care of him. Plus I don't think Bumblebee will purposely try to annoy Ironhide like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker do."


	13. Chapter 13

"You want us to do what?"

Ironhide stared at Optimus and Elita wondering if he had heard what they had said correctly before looking down at the sparkling in Elita's arms. Bumblebee appeared to be in recharge, but he had one of his servos reached out to where he was touching Optimus' arm. Surely they hadn't really just asked him and Chromia to watch the sparkling for an entire orn. He knew that Bumblebee was having trouble recharging and was having separation anxiety whenever he was away from Optimus. And that fact made Ironhide very wary of having to watch him.

"We want you to watch Bumblebee for an orn," Optimus said.

"Why?"

"Ratchet thinks it might help Bumblebee if he sees that nothing bad will happen if he's away from Optimus or me," Elita explained. "And since if something were to happen to both of us we want either the two of you or Arcee to take care of him, we thought it would be a good idea for you both to have some practice with him."

"We would love to watch him," Chromia spoke up.

"We would?" Ironhide questioned before Chromia elbowed him in the side.

"We would," she repeated.

Chromia walked over to Elita and carefully took Bumblebee from her. The sparkling emitted a small whimper, but fortunately remained in recharge. Once Optimus and Elita had left and Ironhide and Chromia were back in their quarters, he fixed his sparkmate with a look.

"I'm no good at taking care of sparklings, you know that," Ironhide stated.

"We can watch our nephew for one orn Ironhide. He's a sweet sparkling and we want him to feel better," Chromia replied.

"I know. But when he starts screaming for Optimus, you're the one who's taking care of him."

"Fine, but until then you can at least hold him," Chromia placed Bumblebee in Ironhide's arms and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To go get some energon for Bumblebee when he wakes up, I'll be right back."

The moment Chromia walked out, Bumblebee started to shift and whimper in his arms. It wasn't even a breem later before Bumblebee's optics opened up and he started to frantically look around the room before looking up at Ironhide in fear.

"Where Op and Lita?" he whimpered.

"They're around the base somewhere. You're staying with me and Chromia for the orn."

"No! Want Op!"

Ironhide sighed and sat down on his berth with Bumblebee squirming. Of course the sparkling would wake up and start fussing as soon as his sparkmate left and he was stuck trying to calm him down until she got back.

: Chromia he woke up. :

: I'm on my way back 'Hide. Just try to comfort him. :

: How? :

: Hold him close to your spark. :

: What good will that do? I don't have a bond with him. :

: It will still help calm him down. And make sure to reassure him that he's safe with us. :

Ironhide shifted Bumblebee to where his head was lying on the part of his armor that covered his spark. It took a moment, but soon Bumblebee buried his head in Ironhide's chest. The weapons specialist placed a servo on the sparkling's back in an attempt at reassuring him. Although the fact that Bumblebee kept whimpering told him that it wasn't exactly working.

"What are you scared of sparkling?" Ironhide finally asked.

"Bad ones come take Bee away from Op and Lita."

"You know that Optimus and Elita won't let that happen again Bumblebee."

"Hide and Mia keep safe?"

"Yes sparkling we'll keep you safe. And so will Ratchet and Arcee and Jazz and the other Autobots here. The Decepticons aren't going to get their servos on you again anytime soon."

The sparkling was silent for a moment before whispering, "Hide why Megtron mean to Op?"

That questioned surprised Ironhide and he wasn't sure how he should even answer it. Truthfully it was a question that Optimus should answer for Bumblebee, but he knew that his friend was going to push off the subject of Megatron until Bumblebee was much older and could understand what he was being told. He knew that in Prime's mind Megatron hadn't always been evil, not necessarily the nicest bot around, but not a sparkless monster like he was now. And that was something that was difficult to explain to a young sparkling.

"Megatron and Optimus just don't get along well Bumblebee, now don't worry about it."

The answer seemed to pacify the sparkling and he snuggled against Ironhide and fell back into recharge.

* * *

_All he could see was darkness. All around him he could hear voices, but he couldn't make out who was talking, all he could make out was the menacing laughter coming from behind him. Bumblebee turned his head and saw the cold red optics glaring down at him. He looked at the red optics in absolute terror. Where were Optimus and Elita! The evil mech suddenly bent down and grasped him by the neck. Bumblebee was able to let out a startled scream before suddenly the mech squeezed his neck and something snapped. Suddenly all Bumblebee could feel was pain, the center of it coming from his vocal processor. He tried to scream and cry for help, but all that came out was static. Painful static. All of this caused the evil mech to start laughing again._

" _What's the matter sparkling? Can't speak? You're never going to be able to speak again sparkling. No one will like you now. You're just a big weakness for the Autobots. You can't talk to them, you can't warn them. I should just kill you right here, they won't miss you."_

_Bumblebee began to tremble as he frantically looked around for someone to help him._

_"But I'm not going to kill you sparkling. I want you to suffer more than that. You're going to watch as everyone around you forgets that you even exist. You're going to be all alone sparkling. And there's nothing you can ever do about it."_

* * *

Bumblebee awoke from recharge with a yelp before beginning to cry. Chromia had him in her arms in an instant continuously telling him that he had just had a bad dream and that everything was alright. But it wasn't alright. In his nightmare the evil mech had hurt him and he hadn't been able to talk. He had told him that he would be all alone and that everyone would forget about him. He didn't want his family to forget about him!

"Shh Bumblebee, everything's okay," Chromia soothed. "You just had a bad dream. You're safe, no one is going to hurt you or take you away."

It may have only been a dream, but it had felt so real. Unlike his other dreams which had been more like memories, in this one he had looked older. Almost like it hadn't happened yet.

"Just forget about Bumblebee, just forget about," Chromia said.

"Bad dream, not gonna happen," Bumblebee whispered, but his spark was racing thinking about it.

**The End**


End file.
